Per screen, `Journey' has other films in U.S. beat

Mercury News wire services

Posted:
03/26/2007 07:09:31 PM PDT

Updated:
03/26/2007 07:09:33 PM PDT

"Journey From the Fall," a modestly budgeted independent film from a new production company hoping to attract Asian-American audiences, scored a remarkable opening-weekend victory. It grossed a higher per-screen average at the box office than any movie in the country last week.

That includes last weekend's box office champ, "TMNT," which made an estimated $25.45 million overall, but lagged behind the $21,861 per screen that "Journey From the Fall" averaged.

"Journey" played to mostly sold-out screenings in San Jose, Westminster, as well as New York City. All three cities have large Vietnamese-American communities.

San Jose's Camera 12 Cinemas had to hurriedly order a second print of the film from ImaginAsian Pictures, the first-time distributor, to handle its overflow crowds. The film grossed $87,442.

The film is inspired by the true stories of Vietnamese refugees who fled their country after the fall of Saigon, and it is one of the first films to examine the struggles of those who stayed behind and endured the brutalities of the re-education camps set up by the new government.

The film expands to more theaters nationwide Friday.

- Bruce Newman

Ninja series, 6 others win YouTube prize

YouTube highlighted its star-making ability today by unveiling its first batch of YouTube Video Award winners, several of which have become virtual household names over the past year.

Power pop band OK Go and the video series "Ask a Ninja" were among the seven winners in the video-sharing site's inaugural awards.

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YouTube last week selected 10 nominees in seven categories, the winners of which were decided by user votes.

It was a quick, hasty process begun and concluded in just a week - a far cry from the many months of, say, Oscar campaigning.

OK Go, perhaps the most professional of the mostly amateur nominees, won most creative video for its "Here It Goes Again" music video. "Ask a Ninja," the comedy created by Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, won for best series.

"Ask a Ninja" triumphed over what may be YouTube's biggest celebrity, Lonelygirl15. That bedroom production finished fourth, behind "Ask A Gay Man" and "Chad Vader."

Terra Naomi won for best music video for her song "Say It's Possible," a one-shot clip of her playing acoustic guitar and singing. Naomi has parlayed her online success into a record deal with Island Records and will release her debut album this summer.

Similar to how an actor might thank the Academy for an Oscar, Naomi paid her respects to the YouTube community.

Best commentary was one of the most hotly contested categories, as it pitted several of YouTube's most high-profile personalities against one another. A "vlogger" known as "The Wine Kone" won over Peter Oakley ("Geriatric1927") and Paul Robinett ("Renetto").

A video calling for a "Free Hugs Campaign" won for most inspirational video. Australian Juan Mann's video set off an online wildfire of similar "Free Hugs" campaigns.

Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox, also known as Smosh, won for best comedy video. Dony Permedi's animated video "Kiwi!" - which began as a master's thesis on animation - won for most adorable video.

The winners and nominees are compiled in a gallery at www.youtube.com/YTAwards. YouTube says it will later unveil what a YouTube Video Award will look like.

A Kremlin birthday for exiled cellist

After a health scare, Mstislav Rostropovich is planning to go to the Kremlin on Tuesday to celebrate his 80th birthday.

Today, the Kremlin said Rostropovich was expected to meet President Vladimir Putin at a reception on Tuesday. Russian officials declined to issue further details about the closed event.

"We know that his health has been good, as good as it can be, I suppose, and that he is planning on attending all of his birthday events," Kiija Manty, project officer with the Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation in Washington, told the Associated Press today.

Aides have refused to give details of the celebration, other than to say conductor Seiji Ozawa is among those expected to attend the private dinner and concert hosted by Putin.

Actress: share data on new slave trade

Julia Ormond appealed to police agencies worldwide today to share information and resources in hopes of combating human trafficking. The 42-year-old British actress, who co-starred with Harrison Ford in 1995's "Sabrina," spoke in London to help publicize a new U.N. campaign to combat 21st-century slave trade.

The initiative came a day after the 200th anniversary of the passage of Britain's anti-slavery law. The goal is to improve enforcement of a 2003 U.N. treaty against human trafficking - a crime Ormond described as being largely hidden.

"What we do know is that the statistics are the tip of the iceberg," she told The Associated Press.

The campaign will improve coordination between governments and organizations that work to fight the problem, said Eva Biaudet, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's special representative on combating trafficking in human beings.

Efforts to fight human trafficking have failed to win broad support because of the difficulties in counting the number of victims, many of whom are unable to seek help, Biaudet said.

"It's sometimes an excuse that `we don't have the data, so we can't do anything about it,'" Biaudet said.

Police worldwide need to apply anti-trafficking laws equally - and with the same technology - for the networks to be dismantled, Ormond said.

"That's the crucial part," she said.

`WHITE CASTLE' STAR WILL TEACH AT PENN

Kumar is going from White Castle to the Ivy League.

Kal Penn, known for his role as Kumar Patel in the 2004 cult classic "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," will be a guest instructor at the University of Pennsylvania during the spring 2008 semester, the school announced today.

Penn, 29, will teach two undergraduate courses, tentatively titled, "Images of Asian Americans in the Media" and "Contemporary American Teen Films."

"The Asian American Studies Program is delighted that Kalpen Modi, aka Kal Penn, chose our program to host his teaching engagement at Penn," program Director Grace Kao said. "Mr. Modi is one of the leading Asian American actors of his generation and is particularly aware of how his racial and ethnic identification has affected his professional experiences."

Students can enroll in the courses as Asian American studies or cinema studies programs in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences, Kao said.

Penn co-starred with John Cho, who played Harold Lee, in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle." His screen credits also include "The Namesake," "Epic Movie," "Van Wilder" and "Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj."

He recently finished shooting "Harold & Kumar 2" with Cho.

The university said Penn, a native of Montclair, N.J., received a bachelor's degree in sociology with a specialization in theater, film and television from the University of California-Los Angeles, and is pursuing a graduate certificate in international security at Stanford University.